Chinese teen tennis qualifier Shang Juncheng overcame a pair of rain delays to advance to the ATP Atlanta Open semifinals on Friday. He defeated Australia’s Max Purcell in a hard-fought match that ended 7-6 (7/3), 6-4. The 19-year-old left-hander from Beijing showed incredible resilience, shrugging off the rain stoppages, particularly the one that occurred late in the first set tiebreaker. This victory sets up a Saturday semi-final showdown against Australian fourth seed Jordan Thompson, who earlier ousted fifth-seeded Spanish wild card Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3. The match against the eighth-seeded Aussie concluded after two hours and one minute, with Shang securing victory on a service winner. This tournament serves as the first US hardcourt tune-up event leading up to the US Open, which kicks off on August 26.
“Tough conditions. It rained twice, especially the first time in the tie-break it was crucial,” Shang said after the match. “I kept my mindset together, played really good tennis. Just super good match and happy to be through.” Shang’s previous ATP semifinal appearance came earlier this year in Hong Kong, where he fell to Russian Andrey Rublev. His journey to the Atlanta Open semifinals has been particularly challenging, as he had to navigate through the qualifying rounds. “Coming from qualies has not been easy and the first two rounds have been challenging, really hard,” said Shang. “But tomorrow it’s semis. You don’t get that every week. Just happy to be in the weekend.”
Meanwhile, the other semi-final matchup will feature Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka against the winner of the later match between Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci and France’s Arthur Rinderknech. Nishioka secured his place in the semis by defeating US third seed Frances Tiafoe in a dominant performance that lasted just 84 minutes, ending 7-6 (7/2), 6-2. Nishioka is chasing his third career ATP title, having previously won the 2018 Shenzhen Open and the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul. Thompson, a 30-year-old from Sydney, claimed his first ATP title in February at Los Cabos, defeating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.
